The Arizona Complex League Giants are a professional baseball team competing as a Rookie-level affiliate of the San Francisco Giants in the Arizona Complex League of Minor League Baseball . The team plays its home games at Scottsdale Stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona . The team is composed mainly of players who are in their first year of professional baseball either as draftees or non-drafted free agents from the United States , Canada , Dominican Republic , Venezuela , and other countries.
50-1367: The team first competed in the Arizona League from 1991 to 1994, then was absent from the league until 2000. The team has been a member of the league continuously since 2000, fielding two squads in the league since 2018. The two squads are differentiated by Black and Orange suffixes. Prior to the 2021 season, the Arizona League was renamed as the Arizona Complex League (ACL). The team has played some day games out of their parent club's minor league clubhouse at Indian School Park in Scottsdale. Pitchers Catchers Infielders Outfielders Manager Coaches 60-day injured list [REDACTED] 7-day injured list * On San Francisco Giants 40-man roster ~ Development list # Rehab assignment ∞ Reserve list ‡ Restricted list § Suspended list † Temporarily inactive list Roster updated September 2, 2024 Transactions → More rosters: MiLB • Arizona Complex League → San Francisco Giants minor league players Arizona League The Arizona Complex League ( ACL )
100-583: A player has tested positive, and a press release informing the media of said situation has been handed out, while protecting the player's name. Sky Sports , AYM sports, and TVC Deportes broadcast games from the LMB. Sky Sports is also the official broadcaster of home games for Diablos Rojos del México and Sultanes del Monterrey, making it the channel that has the greatest coverage of the league. Other teams have local broadcasting agreements. La Liga Mexicana de Béisbol has an agreement with Cadena RASA, through which
150-505: A playoff system for the first time. In 1973 the first of what is now called the Serie del Rey was held. The members of each zone have changed frequently as teams have come and gone (particularly for those teams in a central location), but each zone has maintained a core of the northernmost and southernmost teams. In 1974 the League introduced the designated hitter rule. The league has found
200-600: A prefix, such as with the Peoria Padres and Peoria Mariners . Franchises that field more than one team use differentiating suffixes, typically based on team colors (e.g. Blue and Gold). As of the 2024 season, no major league club fields more than one ACL team. Finals opponent in parentheses, if applicable. † 2020 season canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic Source: Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (Spanish: Liga Mexicana de Béisbol, or LMB , lit. ' Mexican Baseball League ' )
250-437: A single-game semi-final. A best-of-three series between the two semi-final winners follows to determine the league champion. Teams in the league are not referred to by their home city, but simply by their parent club's name. A prefix of ACL (previously AZL or Arizona League) is typically used to differentiate the team from its parent club and other farm teams with the same nickname. City names have been used previously instead of
300-518: A team from Puebla. After that for a solid decade the Championship was only won by teams from the capital city, with Agrario de Mexico and Tigres de Comintra dominating with two titles each. In the late 30s, when the first wave of Cuban players arrived, teams from the Gulf coast started dominating the league; they were more attractive to Cuban players given their proximity to their home island, with
350-460: A team won both halves, the next best team in that division by overall record qualified for the playoffs. The top two teams by overall record received a bye to the semifinals. All playoff games were single elimination, with the exception of a best-of-3 final. As of 2022, four teams—three division winners and one wild card team—qualify for the playoffs seeded by winning percentage regardless of division standing, with seeds 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 playing in
400-576: A year before starting major league play as well in 1992, sharing a team with the Cubs. The team, composed of the Rockies' first-ever draft picks, received a different level of notoriety than the Diamondbacks for their first rookie league game: as the players wore either Rockies jerseys or Cubs jerseys, the team did not have their uniform pants ready at the start of the season, and had to borrow pants from
450-518: Is a professional baseball league based in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five teams in each division advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the Serie del Rey , a best-of-seven championship series between the two division champions. The Mexican League has two affiliated minor leagues,
500-584: Is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona , since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League ( AZL ). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it forms the lowest rung on the North American minor-league ladder. ACL teams play at the minor league spring training complexes of their parent Major League Baseball (MLB) clubs and are owned by those parent clubs. Admission
550-589: Is expected to increase to 20 in 2026, and to 22 in 2028. In contrast to the Major Leagues in which teams commonly wear a white uniform at home, and a grey one for away games, with team-color jerseys only worn as alternates, Mexican League teams use a colored option as their regular road jersey, a practice started in the 1970s to attract larger crowds and make teams more recognizable. The current LMB regular season, consisting of 120 games per team, typically begins in late March or early April. Each team's schedule
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#1732793815406600-529: Is not charged and no concessions are operated at the teams' games. Every Cactus League team fields at least one team in the league. Night games are commonly played in the spring training stadium, although games may also be played at the team's practice fields. As of the 2021 season, there is no league limit to how many players can be on an active roster, but no team can have more than three players with four or more years of minor-league experience. Major-league players on rehabilitation assignments may also appear in
650-486: Is recognized as the first major early step towards baseball free agency . For most of its existence, the league consisted of six to eight teams. During its first few decades most of the league's teams played around Mexico City and the Gulf Coast. The southernmost team being Veracruz, while the northernmost team being Tampico. Most of Mexico City's teams disappeared in the late '30s, and were replaced by teams all around
700-435: Is typically organized into three-game series. Postponed games or continuations of suspended games can result in an ad hoc one-game or five-game series. A team's series are organized into homestands and road trips that group multiple series together. Teams generally play games five to six days per week, commonly having Monday or Sunday as an off day. Frequently, games are scheduled at night. Sunday games are generally played during
750-533: The Cafeteros de Cordoba and the Rojos del Águila de Veracruz winning titles. Because of the late foundation of the league, there never was a "dead-ball" era, which helped enhance the sport's popularity quickly. This along with the fact that it was only played on weekends, which allowed for easy following on a game-to-game basis, helped the sport grow. In 1946, twenty-two Major Leaguers, including eight members of
800-630: The Dodgers , and played a major role in the league achieving AAA status with the Minor Leagues. This achievement should be attributed mainly to Anuar Canavati, who is considered one of the greatest Mexican baseball executives along Peralta and Harp. His relationship with MiLB was key in the growth of Mexican baseball. Southern Mexico has also been a bastion of baseball, with both the Tabasco and Campeche teams enjoying consistent attendance due to
850-540: The Liga Norte de México and Mexican Academy League . Founded in 1925, LMB grew substantially in the immediate post- World War II era thanks to the efforts of Jorge Pasquel , who greatly increased the quality and visibility of the league by luring players from Major League Baseball (MLB). The conflict between the Mexican League and " organized baseball " was resolved in 1955, when the Mexican League joined
900-475: The Mexican Central League was absorbed into the expanded LMB. The newly expanded league featured a 20-team circuit with four divisions. However, after a series of team bankruptcies, the Mexican League was reduced to 14 teams in two divisions. For the 1970 season teams were divided into geographic zones to lower travel costs, however it was not until three years later that the league introduced
950-593: The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues with a Double-A designation; some LMB clubs entered player development contracts with National League teams. Triple-A classification was granted in 1967. As part of a broader reorganization of the minor leagues, the Mexican League returned to its previous independent status in 2021. The Mexican League is the ninth-wealthiest professional sports league by revenue in North America , and
1000-666: The Olmecas de Tabasco since 1977, and the Leones de Yucatán since 1979. The league has lost 12 teams since it was established in 1925. Some sources claim that baseball reached Mexican soil because of the US military forces that participated in the US-Mexico War between 1846 and 1848. The last decades of the nineteenth century were beneficial to the baseball boom, while American companies were investing in various sectors of
1050-734: The Triple-A Pacific Coast League . The Phoenix Diamondbacks debuted in 1996, the first affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks to start playing professional baseball, two years before their parent club joined Major League Baseball . A crowd of 6,124 attended the Diamondbacks' first game on June 25, 1996, a 15–7 loss to the Phoenix Athletics . A number of local dignitaries were at the game, including Buck Showalter and Jerry Colangelo . The Colorado Rockies started their rookie league team
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#17327938154061100-659: The Cubs. Between 1998 and 2000 an unaffiliated team composed of young players from the Mexican League played out of the Tucson Electric Park spring training complex, in part to add a fourth team to a southern division. Three Tucson -based teams (the Mexican All-Stars, the Diamondbacks, and the Rockies) would leave the league after the 2000 season, largely due to travel concerns, followed by
1150-461: The Internet through web page LMB.TV. Likewise, since the 2017 post-season, Cinépolis KLIC has streamed some games. Additionally, the LMB signed an agreement with Facebook to exclusively broadcast 132 regular-season games and eight playoff games (four for each championship) during its 2018 season through Facebook Live. These streams would be free and would be available from March 22 of that year on
1200-458: The Major Leagues. Even so, the league has been accused of "softening" its anti-doping policy to create a safe space for foreign ballplayers to continue their careers there. Allegedly, the league allows players to pay a fine equivalent to US$ 5,000, without suspension to make the positive test "disappear". This has caused controversy among the fans and media who have called for the firing of league president Javier Salinas. As recently as August 2019,
1250-444: The Mexican League. They had to overcome many difficult obstacles, especially when, on May 26, the rival Mexican Association prepared a "coup" against them, but managed to rebuff it. In the period since, competing leagues have occasionally been formed, but have been absorbed by the LMB, the most famous being Central League in 1979. The sport's popularity rose immediately and culminated with the first Mexican-born major leaguers. During
1300-610: The Mexican economy and their employees were broadcasting the game. The origin of baseball in Mexico City, the capital, dates back to 1887 with the birth of the "Mexican Club", which is undoubtedly the oldest team of the republic. Since the start of the 20th century, baseball has become one of the favorite sports of all of Mexico. As early as 1925, Mexicans' interest in baseball was such that sports journalist Alejandro Aguilar Reyes and his friend baseball player Ernesto Carmona founded
1350-694: The New York Giants, moved to the Mexican League. These moves were motivated by businessman Jorge Pasquel investing more money to raise the profile of the Mexican League and offering contracts which were in some cases higher than American Major League contracts. These moves were also motivated by the anticipation of increased competition from former Major Leaguers who had been serving in World War II and were now returning home. The U.S. Supreme Court case Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs held that
1400-582: The White Sox two years later. All three teams later relocated their spring training complexes to the Phoenix metropolitan area, and the Diamondbacks and White Sox reinstated their rookie league teams. The start of the 2020 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic before ultimately being cancelled on June 30. Prior to the 2021 season, in continuation of MLB's reorganization of the minor leagues,
1450-524: The addition of two expansion teams to the league: El Águila de Veracruz and the Mariachis de Guadalajara . The league officially approved the additions on 26 January 2021. In 2023, the league announced that it would introduce a salary cap starting in the 2024 season , in an effort to ensure competitive balance. The league also approved a measure requiring each of its teams to have a minimum of 18 Mexican-born players on their 38-man rosters. That number
1500-527: The afternoon. In addition, teams will play day games frequently on Opening Day, holidays, and getaway days. Each team plays either six or nine games against each opponent. In mid-to-late July, just after the midway point of the season, the LMB All-Star Game is held during a four-day break from the regular-season schedule. The All-Star Game features a team of players from the North Zone, led by
1550-514: The baseball leagues and their commissioner are not violating antitrust laws (specifically the Sherman Antitrust Act ) when they ban, trade, or otherwise change the playing eligibility of players. The ruling went untested until the Mexican League was formed. Players who went to play in the Mexican League were blacklisted from Major League Baseball. One such player, Danny Gardella , was blacklisted because MLB claimed he had violated
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1600-672: The country. It wasn't until the 1940s that the League first reached the northern part of the country with the introduction of the Sultanes de Monterrey . Teams in Nuevo Laredo and Torreon soon followed. The west coast first had a team in 1949 with the emergence of the Charros de Jalisco . It still was a difficult region to gain popularity given the presence of the Mexican Pacific League , an important winter league in
1650-410: The defendants had made contracts with radio broadcasting and television companies that sent narratives or moving pictures of the games across state lines. MLB then settled with Gardella and offered all Mexican League jumpers amnesty, protecting the ambiguity of the antitrust protection. In 1949, Gardella won a major appeal against baseball's reserve clause in the federal courts. This successful appeal
1700-551: The fourth place team, that fifth-place team qualifies as a wild card and plays the fourth place team in a single game playoff. That is followed by three additional rounds: Within each zone the first seed (the team with the best record) will face the fourth seed on the First Playoff, while the second and third seeds face each other. Since 2017, home-field advantage in the Serie del Rey is determined by regular-season records of
1750-403: The league was split geographically for the first time. In 1979, the Mexican Central League was absorbed into the expanded Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (Mexican Baseball League). The newly expanded league featured a 20-team circuit with four divisions. However, after a series of team bankruptcies, the Mexican League was reduced to 14 teams in two divisions. Although there is a stable core of teams in
1800-575: The league, it is not unusual for clubs to relocate. Often, new incarnations of the teams come about through new owners. Teams also cease after unsatisfactory results or bankruptcy. Since its foundation in 1925, more than 90 teams have passed through the Mexican League, and the only organizations that have remained since their inception are the Sultanes de Monterrey (1939), Diablos Rojos del Mexico (1940), Tigres de Quintana Roo (1955), Saraperos de Saltillo (1970), and Piratas de Campeche (1980). The Acereros del Norte have played uninterrupted since 1982,
1850-622: The league. The league began play in 1988 as the Arizona League (AZL) on an experimental basis with four teams playing a 60-game schedule—the teams were affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers , Oakland Athletics , San Diego Padres , and a cooperative between the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners . Games were scheduled in the morning in order to make sure the league did not compete with the Phoenix Firebirds of
1900-469: The manager of the previous North Serie del Rey team, and a team of players from the South Zone, similarly managed, in an exhibition game. It has been held consistently since 1942 and from that year up until 1971 a team of foreign players battled it out against a team of Mexicans. The first all-star game took place on August 29, 1939, in the since-demolished Delta Park of Mexico City, in a game between
1950-543: The northwest of the country. The emergence of teams in the north was key in expanding the league's popularity. The north followed baseball closely, because of various aspects that all helped its teams thrive and has been the home of the most consistent teams in the league, with the Saraperos, Sultanes and Acereros not having stopped play in over 40 years. For the Sultanes it even resulted in a Minor League partnership with
2000-593: The radio network has the exclusive national radio broadcast rights, including the All-Star Game and the Serie del Rey, as well as any other baseball event of national relevance that is presented. Gustavo Torrero, a well-known baseball commentator on radio and television, provides play-by-play for these broadcasts alongside Javier Figueroa and occasional guest commentators. In addition to this, all teams have their games broadcast on local radio. Since 2014, LMB has had an agreement with AYM Sports to stream some games on
2050-557: The reserve clause. On the other hand, Gardella's side claimed he had been fired by Giants player-manager Mel Ott during 1946 spring training because of frequent arguments, primarily about his salary. During 1948, Gardella brought a claim against Commissioner of Baseball Happy Chandler , the National League and American League , as well as their presidents ( Ford Frick and Will Harridge , respectively). Gardella charged that they were engaged in interstate commerce because
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2100-469: The second-wealthiest baseball league in the western hemisphere, behind only Major League Baseball. Despite losing Triple-A classification in 2021, it is considered among the more competitive baseball leagues in Latin America. From 1925 to the 1960s, the league consisted of about six teams each season. The league expanded to eight teams in the 1960s. In 1970, after the circuit had grown to 10 teams,
2150-461: The selections of Ernesto Carmona and Manuel Oliveros . The game ended in 11 innings, 1–0 in favor of the Oliveros team after a walk-off home run . When the regular season ends at the end of August, between eight and ten teams enter the postseason playoffs. The top four finishers in each zone automatically qualify, however if the fifth place team in a zone finishes three or fewer games back of
2200-452: The so-called "first stage of the Mexican League" the league attracted several well renowned players from Cuba and the Negro leagues . Cuban ballplayers Martín Di higo, Lázaro Salazar, Brujo Rossell, Agustín Bejerano all played in Mexico at some point. The era was mostly dominated by the teams in the central areas of the country, in and around Mexico City. The first champions were Regimiento 74,
2250-601: The sport's popularity. The league first expanded southward with the introduction of the Olmecas de Tabasco in 1975, which was followed by the Piratas de Campeche in 1980, and the Leones de Yucatán in 1979, after a couple of previous unsuccessful attempts. Although the Yucatán Peninsula teams have consistently existed for 40 years, they have enjoyed little successes in comparison with their northern peers, although these southern teams have won seven titles. In 1979,
2300-544: The stability it lacked in the 90s, and has managed to sustain 16 teams for almost two decades, although some teams have relocated, and attendance has been inconsistent, though has rebounded in the latter part of the 2010s with the opening of new ballparks and greater stability. This led to unanimous approval for expansion to 18 clubs. Despite having cancelled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic , in December 2020, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced
2350-490: The two US-based complex leagues were renamed, with the Arizona League becoming the Arizona Complex League (ACL). For 2021, the league consisted of 18 teams. In 2024, the schedule was changed from a late June to late August season to a season that stated in early May to late July season, meaning the league would no longer feature players drafted in the current year draft. Prior to 1998, the league champion
2400-449: The two zone champions, replacing a system used previously where the champion of the zone that won the All-Star Game would receive home-field advantage. Similar to MLB, the Mexican League has had issues with doping by several players. Between 2012 and 2016, 45 players tested positive at the Mexican League's Prevention and Control of Substances program, all of whom were suspended according to the organized baseball anti-doping rule, headed by
2450-437: Was the team with best record over the course of the season. Since 1998, the season has been split into two half-seasons. From 1998 to 2008, the teams with the best records in each half faced off to decide the league champion. If the same team won both halves, they were automatically crowned champions (only one team accomplished this, the 2005 Arizona League Giants ). In 2009, the league split into two divisions, an alignment that
2500-407: Was used through the 2012 season. The two teams in each division with the best record in each half-season played off for the division championship, and the winners advanced to the final. If the same team won their division in both halves, they advanced directly to the final. From 2013 to 2019, the six teams who won their division in the first and second half of the season qualified for the playoffs. If
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